Paul Casey considered the query for roughly the time it takes to tap in a 6-inch putt. To Casey, it was a gimme.

This week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, being staged for the first time since its famous namesake died last fall, will feature a solid field filled with some – but certainly not all – of the best players on the PGA Tour. Casey, ranked No. 15 in the world, all but laughed when asked whether he intended to pay homage to the man dubbed golf’s “King.”

My dad nearly killed Arnold Palmer. True story. We were at the Mercedes Championship at La Costa Resort in 1997 and late for the PGA Tour Awards dinner. That explains why my dad was running full tilt when he pancaked The King as they came around a corner of the hotel. My dad picked him up, dusted off and then his jaw dropped when he realized whom he had plowed over. Palmer still was seeing stars, as if he were in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

There was a funereal pall cast over the banquet room at the awards dinner when we arrived. It turned out that Palmer disclosed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. I've always thought we were lucky to be treated to nearly two more decades of golf's most magnetic figure.

As new rules are being considered, I think it would be wise to allow players – amateur and professional – not to have to play their shot if their ball comes to rest in a divot in the fairway (“Revised rules ought to give ground on fairway divots,” March 3, bit.ly/2m3zA2w). Why punish a player for a good shot? Especially, when the committee is planning on making a change for hitting a ball into a bunker.

Restricted: To competitors in the Masters Tournament, the annual Par 3 Contest, according to letters sent by Augusta National Golf Club to invitees, The Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson reported. Augusta officials cite increased interest in the Par 3 Contest on theWednesday of tournament week as the reason for no longer inviting all past champions of the U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship and the U.S. Amateur to play the nine-hole event. Those “honorary invitees” also will no longer be allowed to play practice rounds or use the practice facility during Masters week.